I went to a meeting last night where they observe all the birthdays for the month. Wow! It ran the gamut from one person having 18 months to another man having 43 years and everything in between. In total, there was over 200 years of sobriety there in just the people who were getting birthday medallions. Listening to them share was amazing. I was totally inspired to hear how grateful they were and how the program was still so alive and vibrant in their lives.
I was called to share and could barely speak. I was just awestruck at how these winners had kept it going for so long and how beautifully they described what it was like, what happened and what it is like now. These people genuinely love life and people. I chuckled and told the one man he had been sober since I was 1 year old!
I will officially have 1 year clean and sober next month and it was such a huge blessing to see what the future can hold if I work it cause I am worth it and keep hanging with the winners. After the meeting some of us went out to dinner to celebrate our friend who has 24 years. At one point I was reflecting on how I used to spend Saturday nights alone with a bottle, drinking until I passed out. Last night I spent it hugging, laughing, learning and just basking in the glow of these people who are walking, talking proof that this program brings miracles to those who are willing enough to do what it takes. Good times, good times.
-- Edited by vixen on Sunday 26th of August 2012 10:01:21 AM
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I think there's an invisible principle of living...if we believe we're guided through every step of our lives, we are. Its a lovely sight, watching it work.
I was just awestruck at how these winners had kept it going for so long and how beautifully they desbribed what it was like, what happened and what it is like now.
There are two kinds of people to watch in A.A.--those who make it and those who don't. These folks made it. And are making it.
Good on you Vixen...miracles rub off when you rub up against them. Keep doing what they are doing and you will also get what they are getting. Happy, joyous and free. ((((hugs))))
You know the other advantage of "hanging with the winners", and this took me a long time before I noticed, is, so there you are hanging out with great group of optimistic happy people who aren't afraid of self revelation, like truly healthy people, you think they are wonderful and great, and as time passes, they think the same as you, they think you are wonderful and healthy and happy...and you notice you are...then you hang out with the seriously impaired (God Bless them) (like my family, maybe an ex girlfriend lol) and they view you are as messed up as they are, and in a short period of time, you are.
Insanity and mental "dis-ease" is contagious, but so is mental health, we rise or fall to the level of those we surround ourselves with, much like that movie "Zelig" by Woody Allen, about a guy who did just that
This is just my experience and may not apply to everyone else, but then I am a weak man, because I seriously acquire the traits of those around me to a certain degree, so for my very mental health, I "stick with the winners" because I have seen (and felt) the results of what happened when I didn't
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Light a man a fire and he's warm for a night, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
Great share, Vixen. It's an amazing turnaround isn't it? Watching all those people celebrate their success, I mean. And to think, you'll be celebrating next month as well. Wow, talk about winners. Keep that momentum going.
Great share Vixen...it is a testament to how much your outlook and your whole way of life can improve in just 1 year in AA.
@Linbaba - very true and insightful. As someone that had "depression and anxiety" issues coming into the program, I used to think I was inherently different than the happy folks I saw in meetings during my first six months or so. I thought my level of depression was way more limiting than it really turned out to be. In retrospect, all I ever did when drinking was either isolate or hang around other crazy people with problems. Hence, I never had an example of how to live life on life's terms and I never had a healthy support network to begin the baby steps of doing so myself. Turns out I was not so incapable. I was just living in fear and I needed others and AA to teach me how to not do that.
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
